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Community Spotlight: Burke McDavid, Co-Chair of the Investment Management & Private Funds Industry Group, Winstead PC

By John Freund |
February 12, 2025

Community Spotlight: Burke McDavid, Co-Chair of the Investment Management & Private Funds Industry Group, Winstead PC

Burke McDavid is a seasoned attorney with a comprehensive understanding of investment management, compliance and corporate law. With more than two decades of experience, he brings a wealth of experience in both private practice as well as overseeing legal and compliance matters as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for a registered investment adviser managing funds focused on litigation funding.

Company Name and Description: Winstead is a leading Texas-based law firm with national practices serving clients across the country. We focus on exceeding our clients’ expectations by providing innovative solutions to their business and legal opportunities and challenges. We work as a trusted counsel to public and private companies, governments, individuals, universities, and public institutions.

Our business, transactions, and litigation practices serve key industries, including real estate, financial services, investment management and private funds, higher education and P3, airlines, healthcare and life sciences, sports business, and wealth management.

Company Website:  Winstead.com

Founded: 1973

Headquarters: Dallas, Texas

Areas of Focus: Investment Management and Private Funds

Member Quote: “Having assisted with the launch and operations of a litigation funding focused manager in 2013, and later having served as general counsel and chief compliance officer for that manager, I’ve seen the growth of the industry and enjoyed assisting with the unique challenges that funders and funding recipients face in structuring and working through funding relationships.”

About the author

John Freund

John Freund

Commercial

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Commercial

Perpetual Lifts Omni Bridgeway Stake to 15.4% After Months of Buying

Perpetual Limited has increased its holding in litigation funder Omni Bridgeway to 15.403%, according to a substantial holding notice lodged with the ASX, consolidating its position as one of the funder's largest institutional shareholders.

As reported by Kalkine Media, the Form 604 shows Perpetual and its related bodies corporate now control 44,613,540 ordinary shares carrying 15.403% of voting power in Omni Bridgeway, up from 41,291,970 shares and 14.256% at the time of the previous notice in April 2026. The change in relevant interest was recorded on September 18, and company secretary Sylvie Dimarco signed the notice on September 22.

The annexure to the filing sets out a two-stage pattern of trading by Perpetual Investment Management Limited between June 12 and September 18. Perpetual was a net seller through June and July, with disposals executed via custodians Citicorp Nominees and HSBC Custody Nominees (Australia). From late July onward the direction reversed, with purchases recorded on multiple dates including August 27 and 28 and across September 15 to 18, executed through both custodians.

The accumulation comes during a period of pronounced volatility for the ASX-listed funder. Omni Bridgeway reported record FY26 commitments and investment proceeds alongside a 89% fall in net profit, and was recently dropped from the S&P Global BMI index. A sizeable institutional shareholder adding to its position against that backdrop is a notable signal for a sector where public-market sentiment has lagged operational performance.

Omni Bridgeway has not commented on the change in Perpetual's holding.

Commercial

Funder’s 20% to 25% Cut Draws Scrutiny in Macquarie Shield Class Action

A funded class action filed against Macquarie Investment Management over the collapse of the Shield Master Fund is drawing criticism from within the Australian advice industry, with questions being raised over whether litigation funding is the right route for investors who have already been partially compensated.

As reported by ifa, the action was served on September 17 on behalf of Rachelle Dessent and roughly 2,800 account holders who lost superannuation in the Shield collapse. Gordon Legal, which is running the case, alleges investors have not been fully compensated despite the $321 million Macquarie paid out last year covering total amounts invested, after the firm admitted failures related to Shield. The claim seeks the growth those savings might have achieved had they remained invested elsewhere, together with damages for distress. Netwealth was served with draft documents for a separate potential class action on September 21.

Central to the criticism is the cost of the funded route. Save Our Super advocate Melinda Kee, who told ifa that Gordon Legal approached her last year and that she "wasn't interested," pointed to the firm's own disclosure that the litigation funder is entitled to between 20% and 25% of any settlement fund if the action succeeds, with legal costs also payable from the group's award subject to court approval.

Kee argued that pursuing claims through AFCA and the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort is free and delivers compensation directly to investors. With average losses around $120,000, and lower for many Macquarie and Netwealth investors following the return of capital, she suggested many residual claims could fall within the $150,000 CSLR cap.

The case turns in part on so-called "but for" losses. Financial Services Minister Daniel Mulino recently confirmed that only actual losses will be compensated through the CSLR from July 1, 2027.

Commercial

Court of Appeal Rules Clients Cannot Force Disclosure of Secret ATE Commissions

The Court of Appeal has ruled that former clients have no mechanism under the Solicitors Act to compel their solicitors to reveal commissions earned on after-the-event insurance, even while criticising firms that refuse to answer the question as behaving unwisely.

As reported by The Law Society Gazette, the judgment in Turner v Coupland Cavendish upheld a challenge brought by the solicitors and found there is no route through a Part 18 request for further information to force disclosure in a Solicitors Act costs assessment. Lady Justice Andrews, giving the lead judgment, said there was no "shortcut" for former clients seeking information about secret commissions on ATE premiums.

Andrews nonetheless made clear her discomfort with the position. As a fiduciary, she said, a solicitor ought to tell a client about any commission if asked, and where a firm refuses there appears to be no easy or cost-effective remedy. She described the solicitors' conduct as "unattractive," "unwise" and "unedifying," and acknowledged the unfairness of requiring a client to produce evidence that a commission was paid in order to obtain the evidence needed to prove it, when that evidence sits with the solicitor. She stopped short of proposing a fix, flagging it instead for those able to change the rules or the law.

The sums at stake in the underlying matter were modest. The ATE premium on the original personal injury claim was £245, with any commission likely to be no more than £25. Andrews observed that the principal beneficiaries of a successful challenge would be those who have built an industry out of challenging solicitors' costs. The claim was led by Leeds firm JG Solicitors.

At first instance, Costs Judge Rowley refused the Part 18 request. Mr Justice Sweeting reversed that decision in the High Court, and the Court of Appeal has now restored the original position.